Dr Josie Fullerton
Published: 1 November 2022
The opportunities given to me through the NERD, FOCuS, Glasgow Crucible & Graham Wilson Travel Awards have been inspirational and aided my career development in complimentary ways.
Dr Josie Fullerton - Research Associate
During my time as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health, I have been incredibly supported in both professional and personal aspects of my life. In 2019, I was appointed as Dr Lorraine Work’s postdoc, and she immediately sent me in the direction of Prof Will Fuller to discuss the FOCuS Scheme – Fellowship Opportunities in Cardiovascular Science. Will provided me with CV guidance, career advice, support, and most importantly… his little dog Juno was there to chair the meeting! This discussion helped me think about the future path of my career, what do I want to do? What do I need to achieve this? What would strengthen my CV? And what do I need to prioritise to get there?!
Under Lorraine’s guidance, I was encouraged to apply for the GG&C NHS Endowments Award, Welcome ISSF Summer Scholarship, and our Schools own Graham Wilson Travel Award, and amazingly I was awarded all three! Unfortunately, due to COVID two of these were greatly impacted – but the experience and support I received from Lorraine to complete my applications was incredible. In addition to this, the support the School provided during the pandemic was flawless – living alone in a new home, while my partner worked in Taiwan and my grandmother was in a care home – I don’t think I was the easiest postdoc to manage, but my colleagues at SCMH made things a whole lot easier!
During the pandemic, I joined the Network for Early Researcher Development (NERD) committee, which I currently lead. We aim to arrange events to help support career progression (CV & Fellowship workshops), post-academic mentoring (PACMAN), work-life balance (coffee mornings & socials), job security (funding sessions), mental health awareness, and parental leave. This opportunity has helped me work with colleagues from within the School, but also across the college, in order to help tackle some of the issues faced by Early Career Researchers.
In 2022, I was appointed as Prof Stu Nicklin’s postdoc, and with his support, I applied for the Glasgow Crucible and to be a member of the RSE Young Academy of Scotland. Both these opportunities allow me to attend career development sessions out with our school, alongside inspiring historians, engineers, and computer scientists, to combine efforts to tackle wider challenges for Scotland. Stu’s support and guidance has also helped me focus on what matters at this stage of my career, as an easily distracted, passionate postdoc, I feel his guidance has helped me develop and stay focused on what matters at this stage of my career.
Since joining SCMH in 2019, my CV has dramatically changed thanks to the support and guidance of my colleagues, and I am able to continue my development into the researcher I want to be; this also highlights the importance of the 12P’s for PI’s. The opportunities given to me through the NERD, FOCuS, Glasgow Crucible & Graham Wilson Travel Awards have been inspirational, and aided my career development in complimentary ways; these are all open and available to us in SCMH. I can safely say that if I hadn’t joined the School in 2019, my life would be a whole lot different today, and for that, I am hugely grateful for!!
First published: 1 November 2022
